CHARLESTON – The U.S. Supreme Court says Virginia can resume efforts to remove potential non-citizens from voter rolls ahead of next week’s general election.
In a 6-3 order issued Oct. 30, the justices blocked a federal court ruling that halted the program and forced the state to reinstate 1,600 voters on the rolls.
“This is a victory for common sense and election integrity,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia elections are fair, secure and free from politically motivated interference.”
Morrissey | Photo courtesy of
Under the National Voter Registration Act, states are prohibited from systematically removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of an election. Virginia’s plan targeted people who checked a box on a Department of Motor Vehicles form declaring they were not citizens or left it blank.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles forced the state to discontinue the program and restore 1,600 voter registrations.
In Virginia, voter registration is same-day, so any eligible voters removed should still be able to vote.
The Biden administration and several civil rights groups have questioned Virginia’s plan, saying it could also result in some legal voters being removed from the rolls. The U.S. Department of Justice said that while states can review their voter rolls, they cannot do so just before an election, citing the 90-day rule in the National Voter Registration Act.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican like Youngkin, joined a 26-state GOP coalition led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach in supporting Virginia’s plan.
“This is the right decision and really very simple: only U.S. citizens can vote, period,” Morrisey said in a press release. “This is about securing our democratic electoral process.”
The 26-state amicus brief argued that the preliminary injunction, which stopped Virginia from removing people claiming to be non-citizens from its rolls, undermined states’ authority to set voter qualifications. Virginia law provides mechanisms to protect election integrity while ensuring that only U.S. citizens remain on the voter rolls.
“The upcoming elections are fiercely competitive and divisive across the country. “Perhaps the divide would have been smaller had the federal government not interfered in the election through last-minute attacks on state efforts to police voter eligibility checks,” the amicus brief said.
The coalition argued that the recent decision by the Eastern District of Virginia to temporarily prohibit Virginia from removing noncitizens would result in Congress forcing the state to allow noncitizens to vote in elections despite the state’s objections.
It turned Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow noncitizens to vote in upcoming elections in violation of state law and federal law itself if a noncitizen is found on the voter rolls within 90 days of the election.
Morrisey joined the Kansas-led briefing with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
